The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, California’s signature music festival, unveiled their 2010 lineup this morning. Abandoning the baby-boomer pandering of yesteryear, organizers have landed a much younger lineup that includes Gorillaz, Muse, Jay-Z, Thom Yorke, MGMT, Them Crooked Vultures and LCD Soundsystem, among many many others, for the three-day concert that begins April 16 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio.
There's still a place for the older acts as well, with Woodstock icon Sly Stone and the Family Stone, never-say-die outfit Devo and 1980s alt-rock outfit Echo and the Bunnymen set to make their respective marks, as well as revived college-rock outfit Pavement and the resurrection of Public Image Ltd, making their first appearance in 15 years.
The surprise over Jay-Z as a Day One headliner is undue; plenty of hip-hop stars have played in the past, and there's been a marked push in getting some higher profile rap acts on the bill for several years now. That, and the fact that Jay's been flirting with the Hipster Nation for quite some time now. You didn't think those shots of him at the Grizzly Bear shows last year that made the rounds were by chance, did you?
Saturday will be headlined by Muse, Faith No More, DJs Tiesto and David Guetta and the Dead Weather, and will also feature appearances by Portugal. The Man, Rx Bandits and Dirty Souls.
Sunday will close with Gorillaz, Yorke, Spoon, Parisian electro-rockers Phoenix and Gary Numan, who may or may not be working with Trent Reznor on a new project. Emo pioneers Sunny Day Real Estate, a personal soft spot of mine, will make an appearance as well.
Gary Bongiovanni, the editor in chief of Pollstar, attempted to put the lineup into perspective: “Pavement was never an arena headliner, but it lends some excellent buzz to the lineup,” he said. “In a way, it’s like looking at what the Super Bowl had to do. They have The Who this year, and if you stop and think about it, ‘What’s the biggest act we can get that we haven’t already done?’ -- it’s a tough question to answer. If you take all these little things and put them together it becomes a compelling bill. There’s not a reliance on one name.” Yeah, except Soundgarden, who many had hoped would find their way onto the lineup, headliner or no. Their lack of inclusion, along with the much-rumored Beastie Boys, do leave a bit to be desired, but there's still plenty of goodness on the bill.
Coachella also wised up to the hardening times, offering fans the opportunity to purchase tickets on layaway (but can they be bought at K-Mart? That would really be something). Three-day packages are $269, not including Ticketmaster surcharges, which will likely be another $1500 or so.
